Chivalry: A touch of grace to avenge in the name of God
Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
Crusaders
before Jerusalem painting by Wilhelm von Kaulbach. Jerusalem being
delivered from the Muslims, with Godfrey of Bouillon leading the army of
crusaders.
Question: This is the crusading spirit, correct?The crusading spirit arises when one sees that even that has availed nothing and one receives a special motion of grace to avenge in the Name of God.
Question: So things must get to this point in order for the touch of vengeance to come about?
Right. The ‘touch’ is, “Avenge Me, my son!”
Now, a Crusader will only be perfect in carrying out this vengeance
when no turbulent, low level or heavy passions are involved, something
which often happens when an individual wants to exact personal revenge
and ends up by making God a kind of alter ego of himself; he
becomes indignant as if they had slapped his face and so he is going to
slap the Mohammedan’s face. This is not right.
It is necessary to understand the immensity of the sin committed and
to want to avenge it out of pure and disinterested love for God. This is
different from personal rage.
Cavalry charge by the Knights of Saint John against the Saracens, by Gustav Adolf Closs.
Question: It is impossible to avoid the personal aspect without a special grace, right?
It is impossible. When that happens, the knight becomes properly
speaking indomitable and has the strength to unleash on the Mohammedan
the blow that cleaves him in half.